Brutal Immortality
by The Phantom Writer
Summary: Three hundred years after Battle City, Seto is trying to cope with the hardships of being a vampire and his losses. What he doesn't realize, is that he may also have something to gain. Kind of AU.
1. Chapter One

Summary: It's been three hundred years since Battle City. Seto is lost and filled with anguish at the loss of his brother. But he will live on. For he is a creature so incomprehensible, that eternity is isn't even a match for him. A vampire...he feels lost and alone, but what happens when he meets up with a few people he didn't expect to see, so many centuries later?  
  
!!!!  
  
Brutal Immortality  
  
!!!!  
  
Sometime in 2072  
  
!!!!  
  
"Big brother..." rasped an old, dying Mokuba. He was eighty years old. Some might think he was talking to his brother's spirit, telling him he was on his way. For it Mokuba was old, and dying, Seto was long gone. But no. The brunette, yes, still brunette, stood, hovering, solemnly, over his little brother. Seto know this day would come. The day his brother would die, and he would be left alone. He didn't want to accept it, but on that fateful day. The day sixty-eight years ago when he was bitten, he knew he would live forever.  
  
And that meant watching everyone he loved get ripped away from him.  
  
He wasn't totally alone, yet, though. He still had Mokuba's daughter, Hanyou(can't imagine why Mokuba would name his daughter "half-demon"), to look after. But he knew, that she too, would die.  
  
"Yes, Mokie?" The name was a mere whisper on his lips. Mokuba just smiled up at his brother, "Everything will be all right...things will get better...you'll see..."  
  
With those final words, the heart monitor stopped beeping, and one long whining beep took it's place. Mokuba was gone.  
  
Seto felt like he needed to cry. But he couldn't.  
  
Vampires couldn't cry.  
  
He couldn't cry.  
  
!!!!  
  
Present Day : 2304  
  
!!!!  
  
Seto opened his eyes as the memory ended. It was becoming more frequent. The memory, and the dreams that came with it. Seto felt guilty. Not only for giving up on Mokuba, but for losing his child. His only daughter. She had disappeared. She, too, looked older then Seto, considerably. But she was good into her forties when she had disappeared.  
  
She comforted him, more then he took care of her. She was like the mother he'd never really had. Even though she was his niece.  
  
Seto didn't know what to think anymore. So many tragedies. So many losses. Suddenly, Seto's mind drifted back to Battle City. Yuugi, and Yami, everyone. And Jou. The dog. The little barking chihuahua who never left Yuugi's side.  
  
He wondered what had happened to them. He knew Shizuka had died. She was Mokuba's wife. He knew Honda and Otogi, and Mai and Anzu had all died too. He saw their names in the obituaries. But Yuugi, and Ryou, and Jou. They just sort of...vanished, into thin air. Just like Hanyou had.  
  
Seto didn't know what to think of it. But he did know one thing. He was hungry. Time to go on the hunt.  
  
!!!!  
  
Michiko walked the streets. His tail was tucked firmly into a long coat that he wore over himself. His ears were covered by a hat.  
  
They twitched beneath it, but he took no heed to it. He just continued to walk.  
  
And then, it pounced. A creature that has rivaled Michiko's kind for years. Two sharp eye teeth pierced his neck, and then, he was dead.  
  
!!!!  
  
It was a few hours before Michiko's corpse was found. The woman who found it was not pleased.  
  
"That's the forth this month," She murmured, his black tail, swaying, angrily.  
  
The tallest young man with her blinked, "I don't understand? What's doing this?"  
  
"A vampire," The woman said, "A vampire is doing this. No one else would go after only our kind. Vampires are our rivals. We have fought them for years. Fought them side by side with the weredog, or werewolf. But there is one in this city, who is killing our kind. Plucking us from the picture one by one..."  
  
The other two young men bowed their heads, but the tallest looked fierce, "We have to find him. We have to find him and kill him."  
  
!!!!  
  
Seto wiped the blood from his mouth. Three centuries and he still hated the coppery taste of someone's life-fluid in his mouth. But he needed it. Needed it to survive. He didn't know why, but he felt he had to survive. He had to keep going. For Mokuba's sake. He couldn't just give up.  
  
But the things he use to be so use to were gone to him. He couldn't taste anything, but the sickening copper of the blood he drank. Everything he touched was cold, and frigid. Thankfully, not everything he'd heard about vampires was true. Seto could go out during the day. And he worked. He worked at a small technical warehouse under the alias Seido Miyuko.  
  
No one around here knew him, so he could get away with still looking like and being himself when he was functioning under the false name. But he did keep his trenchcoat (yes he still has one) wrapped tightly around him, the collar up around his neck and most of his face, when he roamed the streets during the day.  
  
Speaking of the day, he had to get to a hotel, and clean up before the day started again. It was true, that working where he did gave him enough money to buy an apartment or small house, but he thought it safer to stay at hotels. In case he had any enemies, no one would ever be able to pinpoint a single location, because he always stayed in a different hotel, most of the time under his alias.  
  
He pulled his coat tight around him as a cold wind blew past. It wasn't because it was cold to him. Only because it was there, and it made him feel uneasy. He scowled, deeply, and made his way up the street, where he saw the faint light of a motel sign. He'd stay there for a few days.  
  
He made his way, slowly, to the hotel, and walked in quietly.  
  
The man at the counter looked very uninterested in things around him, and just glanced at Seto from the corner of his eye when he came in.  
  
"Whatcha want?" The man said. Seto smirked, knowing this man's awful truth. He was a robot. He was probably the graveyard shift robot, taking over the front desk when the owner turns in for the night.  
  
"I need a room."  
  
The man stood up, his finger touching a red blotch on glass counter in front of him. A glass rectangle revealed itself  
  
"Sign this, and come 'ere," The man's wrist seperated from the rest of his arm, and seemed to be connected by a hinge. A scanner came up from inside his arm. That confirmed Seto's suspicion. He was a robot.  
  
Seto lifted his hand above the glass rectangle. He stroked his finger along the signature line that revealed itself on it, and on the line the name 'Seido Miyuko' appeared. Seto pulled his trenchcoat off, and on his forearm, a bar code was revealed. The robot scanned it, and before Seto a holographic projection of his face, his alias, and all of the traits of his alias was revealed.  
  
Name: Seido Miyuko  
  
Age : 19  
  
Height: 6'2"  
  
Weight: 146 lbs  
  
Serial Number: 1716838  
  
Seto glared at the information. He did not like using a false identity. But he had to. To keep himself safe. To keep himself private.  
  
The scanner retracted back into the man's arm, and he placed his hand over the glass rectangle. Seto's serial number appeared below his alias name, and then the man began to type away on what appeared to be a slanted glass slab in front of him. Each place his fingers would touch glowed, for a quick second, red.  
  
"Place your hand there," the man said. An outline of a hand, glowing red, appeared on the glass rectangle, and Seto placed his hand on it. A weird sensation filled his hand, and shot up his arm, and then the man looked up at him.  
  
"Room 21. And don't disturb the neighbors. It's past curfew." And the man turned away from Seto, and resumed looking bored.  
  
Seto nodded, though he could care less if the man noticed or not. He carried himself, tiredly, to the room and placed his hand on the pad that sat next to the door. The pad scanned his hand, and the door slid open.  
  
Seto blinked, as he looked at the surroundings before him. It was like most other motels he stayed at. One single full size bed. A bedside table with a lamp that was bolted down to it. It was like a motel room you could get in the 21st century. He supposed that not many people stayed in motels anymore so there was no reason to upgrade the rooms.  
  
Seto smirked, bitterly, and threw his coat down on the floor, along with a small suitcase, before lying down in the bed. He supposed, he could get some sleep before he had to wake up in...  
  
The clock read 1: 10 am  
  
...four hours and twenty minutes. He turned over, and closed his eyes, sleep, slowly, claiming him.  
  
!!!!  
  
Seto woke up, at 5: 30, like he'd intended too, and climbed out of bed, before going over to the small suitcase and taking out a pair of clean clothes. He took a shower, and got dressed, and combed his hair into its usual style. Nothing much about him had changed. Nothing. In three hundred years. Seto scowled at his reflection.  
  
He grabbed his coat and wrapped it around himself, before walking out, and locking his room.  
  
He walked past the owner, who was now there, and who smiled at him. Seto just nodded, and walked out.  
  
He hailed a hover-cab, which whizzed past him. He growled, and hailed another. It whizzed past him again. He kept trying but none seemed to stop for him. He sighed, frustrated, and finally gave up.  
  
"Fine, I'll walk," He grumbled, bitterly, before making his way through the six blocks he needed to go to make it to work.  
  
When he arrived, ten minutes late because he had to walk, his boss came up to him. Now, Seto got very angry when his boss scolded him, because he was not use to having a boss.  
  
"Seido! You're ten minutes late! Explain!" Mr. Kisushi  
  
Seto just grunted, and pulled his coat off. He was the supervisor at that current warehouse, and had his own office. But he wasn't top dog, and that irked him to no end.  
  
"Seido, I'm warning you! Now explain, or I'll suspend you," Kisushi threatened.  
  
"I couldn't get a cab. I had to walk," Seto murmured, irritably.  
  
Kisushi sighed, "Seido, that's the third time this week."  
  
Seto closed his eyes, resting his chin against his folded hands. He had a lot more on his mind than that.  
  
"Look, I don't care Seido, but the next time it happens, I'm firing you. Now get down into the warehouse," Kisushi said, before turning and leaving.  
  
Seto glared, his blue eyes flaring. He couldn't help it. He could never help it. It always seemed that he never had control any more. And that's what made him the angriest. As a teenager, he had always had control over his life.  
  
But now, it seemed, he didn't. And no matter how hard he grasped for control, it always seemed out of his reach. He growled, softly, pounding his fist against his desk, before he stood and made his way into the warehouse.  
  
He shoved his hands in his pockets, as he checked on the productivity. He remembered the days when he'd go into Kyoto, where the main Kaiba Corp. warehouse was stationed. Everyone seemed to bow at his feet. People here acknowledged him, yes, but he wasn't top dog here. They didn't worship his every movement. They just...knew he was there.  
  
He sighed. No control. He had no control.  
  
"I hate it," He muttered to himself.  
  
Another day. Another day in hell for Kaiba Seto.  
  
!!!!  
  
Seto returned to the motel that day, tired and craving blood. He wasn't even hungry, but he craved blood for some reason.  
  
He needed blood. He needed it.  
  
He screamed, as his eyeteeth grew, his blue eyes flickering to red.  
  
He needed blood.  
  
He opened the window, and climbed through. He had to hunt. He had to eat. He needed blood.  
  
He needed it.  
  
!!!!  
  
He never saw it coming. The poor inu-jin never saw it coming. He was just walking. Just walking, like his comrade Michiko, when the creature struck.  
  
He struggled. He struggled, hard, to get away. But the creature was strong. As sharp eyeteeth pierced his skin, a low howl erupted from his throat. He needed help. Everything was blurry.  
  
And then...darkness.  
  
!!!!  
  
Seto wiped the blood from his mouth. What had he done? He hadn't even been hungry. He felt sick. He'd drunk blood without needing it. He'd hurt an innocent person for no reason.  
  
He slumped, before throwing up, the bodily function pushing up the deep, dark fluid from inside him. He looked at it, his breathing ragged.  
  
And then, he looked at his prey, and his eyes, once again blue, widened in shock.  
  
"It...it can't be...!"  
  
-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-  
  
Me: MWAHAHAHAHA THE EVIL-NESS OF ME!!!! Clifffffiiieeeee! 


	2. Chapter Two

Me: Backies! With another juicy chappie!  
  
!!!!  
  
Brutal Immortality  
  
!!!!  
  
Chapter Two  
  
!!!!  
  
"It...it can't be...!"  
  
Laying before him was a very blonde, very unconscious Jounouchi Katsuya.  
  
Seto's eyes held fear, and shock. How could he be alive? But the answer lay before Seto, as well. A great puffy tail, and pointy, blonde ears.  
  
The boy was an inu-jin.  
  
Seto could not get another thought in. He was tackled by two small, yet powerful bodies. He kicked them off, hissing, and jumped back, his eyes, suddenly, turning red again. But his anger melted into shock. The two boys before him were two more that he would not expect to see.  
  
Mutou Yuugi and Bakura Ryou.  
  
"How is he?" A voice murmured from the shadows. Yuugi and Ryou checked their fallen friend.  
  
"He's still alive," Ryou replied.  
  
The girl stepped from the shadows, and Seto felt sick again. He knew her. Out of all of them, she was the one he least wanted to see.  
  
It was Hanyou.  
  
The reason he felt sick was because she was a female duplicate of his brother. The one thing that could come back to haunt him, now, had.  
  
"Should we dispose of him?" Yuugi asked. They had still not seen Seto's face. He had jumped into the shadows.  
  
"No, I want to, first, see the face of the spawn that has been killing our kind," Hanyou replied. She walked toward Seto.  
  
Seto backed away. Killing their kind? He wasn't killing their kind...was he?  
  
He didn't even know anymore. Like he'd established before, he had no control over his life.  
  
Hanyou stepped closer, and grabbed the collar of his trenchcoat, pulling his eye to meet hers.  
  
Then she gasped and dropped him.  
  
"No...no...you can't be....can't be the one..." Hanyou seemed as scared as Seto himself.  
  
"Hanyou, whats wrong?" Yuugi asked.  
  
"Uncle..." Hanyou murmured.  
  
Seto stepped from the shadows. Yuugi and Ryou gasped.  
  
"How are you still alive," Yuugi asked, shock flaring in his deep violet eyes.  
  
"That answer is obvious, Yuugi. He's a vampire," Ryou glared, "And he's been killing our kind, one by one."  
  
"Listen to me. Whatever you are, I have not been killing you," Seto hissed.  
  
Hanyou did not know what to believe. She's always thought her uncle had been staked in the heart. She never believed him to still be alive. Her eyes shifted around. She shook her head.  
  
"Whether he's been attacking us the whole time or not, he did attack Jou," She finally concluded.  
  
Ryou and Yuugi nodded. They got ready to pounce again, and Seto glared at them, his eyes flashing red. Yuugi and Ryou growled, their bodies' morphing. Seto looked at them strangely.  
  
Suddenly, before him, were two great dogs. One with great white fur, and the other a coat of three colors. Both were growling ferociously. Seto bared his eyeteeth, a great vampire-like hiss escaping his lips. He had to get out of there before the dogs ripped him apart. So, he did something he would have only done in complete emergencies.  
  
His eyes became wide, and crimson red, and he screamed, as great bat wings grew from his back, ripping his shirt. His eyes were blood red, and his eyeteeth hung over his bottom lip. He was pale. He looked more like a vampire than he'd ever wanted to. But he needed to get away, and flight was the only way.  
  
The dogs pounced, and Seto's enhanced reflexes help him dodge. He jumped, just like one of the dogs would, onto a trash can, then up onto the building, before jumping with all his strength and taking flight.  
  
Yuugi and Ryou morphed back to their more human form and watched as the man flew away.  
  
"Hanyou, care to explain?" Ryou asked.  
  
Hanyou watched Seto fly away, "Uncle..."  
  
!!!!  
  
Seto landed back at the motel, fatigued to no end. He gritted his teeth as his wings retracted back into his back. His eyes turned back to the dull blue that he was known for, and his eyeteeth retracted back into his mouth. He panted, as he walked into the motel and to his room.  
  
He barely had enough strength to raise his hand so the pad could scan it, but he did, and when the door slid open, and trudged in, and collapsed on the bed.  
  
In his full vampire form, like he'd just been in to escape the dogs, he used a lot of energy. Energy he couldn't afford these days. But it was either escape or get ripped apart. He still couldn't believe that the mutt and his friends were alive.  
  
But he had little time to dwell on that before sleep claimed him.  
  
!!!!  
  
"Welcome back," The British voice murmured.  
  
Jou had just come back to consciousness, and he blinked away the blur to see his two friends hovering over him.  
  
"What happened? I why do I feel like a steam roller took a detour over my head?" Jou asked.  
  
"We found out who the vampire is," Ryou said.  
  
"Stop, Ryou, Hanyou said she didn't know for sure if it was—"  
  
"Kaiba," Ryou said.  
  
"Wait... Kaiba Seto?" Jou asked.  
  
Ryou nodded.  
  
"Ryou, Hanyou said she didn't think it was—"  
  
"I don't care!" Ryou yelled. He hated vampires. More then any other creature. A vampire killed his mother. And a vampire killed...  
  
Ryou blinked back tears, "He's still a vampire. He needs to be slain."  
  
Yuugi placed a hand on Ryou's shoulder, "I'm sorry about Bakura, Ryou..."  
  
Ryou turned to face him, his nose red, "He was a spirit. He wasn't suppose to die. He was suppose to live. He was suppose to live forever, like me! I hate them. I hate all vampires!"  
  
Hanyou walked in, "Bakura's shadow magic was no match for the vampire that killed him. In regular society, yes, he would have lived, but vampires can kill something's that are said to not die. Like us. In normal society, we would live forever. But Michiko was killed by a vampire."  
  
Ryou sniffed, hugging himself. He and Bakura had just barely started to really show how they felt about each other and then, that horrible night. He could still hear Bakura screaming for him to run. That was the night Hanyou took him in. He was a wreck. Crying, and in shock. For weeks, he neither slept nor ate. All he did was cry, cry for Bakura to come back to him.  
  
Jou frowned, taking Ryou's hand, "He saved you, Ryou."  
  
Ryou closed his green eyes, a few stray tears falling, "Vampires...have taken everything from me. I never knew my mother because of the vampire plague that was spread throughout England. And then, Bakura, the only person I knew I could ever be close with. My soul mate was stolen from me because of a vampire. No. Vampires shouldn't be aloud to live."  
  
Ryou left the room.  
  
Hanyou shook her head.  
  
"I can't kill Kaiba Seto," She said.  
  
"Why not?" Yuugi asked, softly.  
  
"Because he's my uncle."  
  
Yuugi blinked.  
  
"Kaiba Mokuba was my father. Seto watched him grow old. Seto watched him die. It was the hardest thing he'd ever had to see. He doesn't want to be a vampire. He's hurting inside. He feels alone. More alone then he's ever felt," Hanyou replied.  
  
Jou bit his lip, "So, when Mokuba died, you were already older then Kaiba?"  
  
Hanyou shook her head, "Seto should have been dead long before my daddy was. But because he was changed into a vampire at the age of seventeen, he never aged. He may have aged one or two years, physically, but everything about him is the same. When I was changed into an inu-jin, I was already forty."  
  
"So, I'm older than you, too?" Jou asked.  
  
"All of you are, but because you were changed before me, you never aged. But you all had each other when you were turned. Seto has no one. He's had no one for three hundred years."  
  
"So, he attacked me last night?" Jou asked.  
  
"Yes, but I don't think he's the one who's been attacking us. There is another vampire in this city," Hanyou replied.  
  
She paced a few steps before turning toward Jou, "Find Seto. Bring him here. He may be the only one who can help us find and kill the vampire who's been killing our kind."  
  
Jou nodded, morphing into his true inu-jin form. He looked like a mix between a wolf and golden retriever. He hopped up on the windowsill, before jumping out. He would let his nose guide him.  
  
!!!!  
  
Seto awoke and looked at the digital clock next to him.  
  
"Shit," He grumbled, groggily, late for work again, and knowing subconsciously, that he'd never have to worry about being late again.  
  
He pulled himself out of bed, and took a shower, and got dressed. The regular routine. It never changed. It was like a monotonous dance. Seto looked at himself in the mirror.  
  
"I hate my life," Seto mumbled.  
  
"That's a first, I think," Another voice replied. Seto turned, and Jou stood before him, his tail off to his side, his ears up, and his hands on his hips.  
  
Seto scowled at him, and turned back to the mirror, "How did you get in."  
  
"The window was unlocked. For being such an advanced society now, we sure don't know how to upgrade motels, do we?" Jou looked around, "Wow, I haven't actually been in a motel in a long time. I use to stay in these all the time when things were normal around here. To get away from my dad."  
  
Jou laughed, mostly to himself, "Why am I telling you this?"  
  
"No clue, mutt," Seto replied. Some things never change.  
  
Jou made a face, "Wow, glad to know that you're still you. Look, Hanyou wants me to take you back to our hide out. She thinks you're the only one who can help us find the other vampire who's been killing us."  
  
"And how am I suppose to help?" Seto asked, turning to the blonde.  
  
"I don't know! You just can, okay?" Jou replied, indignantly.  
  
"Hn. Typical. You never did know much back in school."  
  
"Hey, now watch it!" Jou growled, pointing a finger at him.  
  
"Or what? Jou, your bark was always worse than your bite," Seto answered. Somehow, he felt better then he had in a long time. He'd missed arguing with the dog. Wait...he'd missed the dog? Somehow, that didn't seem right to him.  
  
No, I missed fighting with him...not him, Seto replied to himself.  
  
"Fine, I'll come with you," the brunette said.  
  
"Umm...okay, well the Sun is out..."  
  
"Stupid mutt. Not all things about vampires are true. I can walk in daylight. And I can see my own relfection. And I definitely don't turn into a bat."  
  
"Really? I could've sworn I heard Yuugi talking about you having bat wings last night," Jou replied.  
  
"I did, but they were large bat wings. And I still had a human body. When I use those wings, it's what they call a the 'True Vampire.' It was my true form. But I wasn't a bat."  
  
Jou blinked, "Oh...well come on. I s'pose Hanyou is expecting us."  
  
Jou hopped out the window, and Seto followed. He walked down the street with Jou, noticing that Jou had turned into his true inu-jin form. So all it looked like to onlookers was a man walking his dog. Seto could live with that.  
  
Jou led Seto into an alleyway, before turning back into himself. He went and pressed himself up against the back wall, where a scanner came out. It scanned his ears, and the wall folded open.  
  
"C'mon," He whispered, and Seto followed him inside.  
  
Inside was a flight of stairs, that led down to the main chamber, where the inu-jins meet. The main chamber spread into three hallways, leading to six different doors. Six inu-jins per four rooms. The other two rooms were a game room, and a bathroom.  
  
Jou led Seto down to the main chamber.  
  
The inu-jins who sat around Hanyou began to growl and bark. They sensed what Seto was.  
  
"Stop! Stop all of you. Calm down!" Hanyou exclaimed, "The vampire is my relative. I assure you, he's not come to harm us. He's come to help."  
  
Merriam, who was a fiery tempered one, stood, in rage, "No vampire could ever help us! You just wait, we'll all be resting, and he'll turn on us! Just like he did with my brother, Michiko!"  
  
"Merriam!" Hanyou scolded. She walked over to her uncle and hugged him, "Seto, it's been a while."  
  
Seto nodded, "Mokuba would be glad to know you're all right."  
  
Hanyou smiled, "I miss him. I'm sure you do, too."  
  
Seto nodded, and hugged the woman again. She looked so much like her father, and because of that, Seto was glad, and pained. He missed his brother more than anyone could ever realize.  
  
Hanyou released the brunette, "It's so good to see you, uncle..."  
  
The rest of the back gasped.  
  
"How could you be related to him?" Kuri, Merriam's boyfriend, exclaimed, horrified.  
  
"He was my father's brother! He watched as my father died. He never asked to become a vampire!" Hanyou replied. She turned back to Seto, "Come...come to my chambers...we'll catch up..."  
  
She began to walk through her clan, Seto following, watching their every move. They didn't like him. That much was obvious, and he didn't want to die. Not yet, at least.  
  
Hanyou led him into a secret room, which was found behind a statuette, and separate from all the other rooms. The wall that the statuette was built on slid open to reveal the room. She motioned for Jou, Yuugi and Ryou to join them. Jou and Yuugi followed, normally, but Ryou glared at the back of Seto's head.  
  
The wall slid closed. The rest of the clan growled. Hanyou's fingerprints were the only ones which could activate the statuette arm, which had to be pulled to open the wall. They wouldn't know what was going on.  
  
!!!!  
  
Hanyou made sure the wall had closed properly, before turning back to Seto and the others.  
  
She smiled, and motioned toward her bar, "Drink?"  
  
Seto shook his head, "I can't taste human drinks anymore."  
  
"Oh, right." She fixed herself a gin and tonic, and sat down.  
  
Seto looked at Jou, Yuugi, and Ryou, then at Hanyou. He leaned back in his seat.  
  
"So...how did you all...I mean..." He cursed at himself.  
  
Jou grinned, "The great Kaiba Seto is speechless."  
  
"Shut up, mutt," Seto replied.  
  
Jou growled, "Make me, jerk!"  
  
"I could do it," Seto hissed, his eyeteeth growing.  
  
"Yeah, well I could rip you apart just as easily, big shot," Jou replied, his claws showing through his fingers.  
  
"Enough," Hanyou said, sipping her drink.  
  
Yuugi shook his head, "Some things never change."  
  
Hanyou set her drink down, and closed her eyes. She could practically hear Jou and Seto glaring at each other. Yuugi was right...some things never change. Hanyou knew how much her uncle detested Jou. And all of Yuugi's friends. But Jou and Ryou were all of Yuugi's friends who were left.  
  
"When I was young, uncle, six or seven...I was playing...and well...things didn't go as planned..."  
  
!!!!  
  
Many years before  
  
!!!!  
  
A young Hanyou played out in the open, near the forests where her and her parents lived. She skipped along, picking flowers, and giggling. The forest was only a few meters from her home, but she never saw it coming.  
  
It pounced, biting her, before it ran away. The scream she'd omitted drew her parents out of the house, and Shizuka cried at the sight of the girl, bloody and wounded. Mokuba had picked her up and brought her inside the house, where he called a doctor.  
  
!!!!  
  
"An inu-jin is made the same way a werewolf is. By another inu-jin. Of course, only vampires can kill inu-jins, whereas a werewolf can be killed by being pierced with anything pure silver," Hanyou said.  
  
Seto looked at Hanyou, "Why did you keep aging, then?"  
  
"I kept aging because of Daddy. His blood was powerful in me, and we thought for a long time because of that, the inu-jin's curse did not affect me. But when Daddy died, the protection of his blood disappeared. One night, when you were out hunting, I could feel the inu-jin form beginning to overtake me. I had to leave. I couldn't be in the same house as a vampire."  
  
"I don't understand," Seto murmured.  
  
Ryou answered, "The smell of an inu-jin's blood is a vampire's one weakness. If the scent is strong enough, the vampire will attack them."  
  
Seto looked at him. He looked different from the innocent british exchange student he'd once known. No, not really known.  
  
Ryou glared at him.  
  
Yuugi and Jou looked at each other then at Ryou.  
  
Seto blinked at the white haired boy.  
  
Hanyou sighed, "Ryou...stop...I know..."  
  
"No, you don't!" Ryou exclaimed, "I hate all vampires, and that's that. If my scent hadn't have been strong, he'd still be with me!"  
  
Ryou stood, going to stand in a corner.  
  
Seto narrowed his eyes and looked at Hanyou. The female inu-jin sighed.  
  
"A few months after Ryou was turned, he and Bakura were walking together...and..." Hanyou paused.  
  
!!!!  
  
A Few Months after Battle City  
  
!!!!  
  
Ryou laughed, as Bakura nuzzled his, his hands stroking his hair, and playing with his new dog ears.  
  
"Stop it, 'Kura, that tickles," the smaller one replied, his ears twitching. Bakura smirked, kissing his cheek and down his neck. Ryou smiled and moaned, his tail wagging, appreciatively.  
  
Bakura stopped, as he heard a trashcan fall over. He'd noticed he'd pushed himself and Ryou into an alley, to hide Ryou from sight, and to give them some privacy.  
  
"Did you hear that?" He asked. Ryou nodded, "But it was just a trashcan falling over."  
  
The smaller one smiled, and leaned up to kiss his darker half.  
  
Bakura smirked and bent to receive the kiss, when he spotted something behind Ryou. The creature pounced, and Bakura threw Ryou out of the way. The creature tackled Bakura.  
  
"Agh! Ryou, run!" Bakura said, as he struggled under the creature, "Go, now!"  
  
The vampire bit into Bakura's neck, and he yelled. The ring that hung around Ryou's neck burned.  
  
Bakura squeezed his eyes shut, trying, still, to pushed the vampire off, but he was growing weaker. Ryou tried to see what happened next but the vampire was covering his Bakura.  
  
Soon, the vampire stood, wiping his mouth, and pounced up a dumpster and onto a building, where he fled.  
  
Ryou stared down at the ring around his neck, which was black, and seemed powerless now. He looked over to Bakura, and screamed. The spirit was laying there, motionless, his eyes open, horrifyingly.  
  
Ryou walked over, slowly, and touched his face, "'Kura? 'Kura? 'Kura, this isn't funny. You can't die...'Kura!!"  
  
He sobbed, pitifully, holding the man's new body close to him, as he cried, loud, and dreadfully.  
  
!!!!  
  
Ryou wiped away the few tears that had fallen, and turned, "Because of me, he died! He died to save me! And I never knew my mother, because she was killed by a vampire. I hate them! I hate them all! And I hate you!"  
  
Ryou slunk down, burying his head in his knees and crying. Jou hugged him, whispering soft 'shhh's into his ear.  
  
Seto closed his eyes, "Gomen ne, Ryou."  
  
Ryou looked at him, "Nani?"  
  
"Gomen ne," Seto replied, "I'm sorry about Bakura. Not all of us are like that though."  
  
"You attacked Jou!"  
  
"I didn't mean too!" Seto hissed, "I don't know what came over me."  
  
"Jou's strong inu-jin scent," Hanyou answered, "You couldn't control yourself, therefore, it was not your fault. But the vampire who is killing us is use to our scent. He knows how strong it is, and is not effected by it. He is killing us purposely, not because he cannot help it."  
  
Seto looked at Yuugi, "What happened to your other half?"  
  
The brunette cringed at the memory of the taller, more confident Yuugi. The one known as Yami.  
  
Yuugi closed his eyes, "I don't know...he disappeared sometime after I turned."  
  
Yuugi looked saddened, but not as badly as Ryou. Seto suspected Yuugi still had hope that Yami was still alive.  
  
Seto looked to Jou, who was still comforting Ryou. He seemed different. Seto didn't know why. He was still as hotheaded as ever, but he just had a different air to him.  
  
"What about you, mutt?"  
  
Jou stood up; "I got turned right after Battle City. When my father found out, he sent me away to America. He was scared of me. I didn't find out that my sister had married your brother until after Hanyou was born."  
  
That was right, Hanyou was Jou's niece too. Seto had nearly forgotten about that.  
  
Jou suddenly looked sad, "I saw Shizuka only once before she died. I could have spent all my time with her had it not been for my father."  
  
If anyone could relate to any of the other three's stories, it was Seto to Jou's. He felt the exact same empty feeling.  
  
"I know how you feel, Jounouchi," He said to the blonde.  
  
Jou looked at Seto, and nodded, "I know."  
  
Hanyou looked between them, and tapped her chin.  
  
!!!!  
  
Seto stepped, quietly, into the room he saw Jou enter, and saw him leaning on the window sill, and staring up at the moon.  
  
Seto's breath caught in his throat. The moon cast a glow over Jou that made him look beautiful. His hair gleamed like gold, and his eyes sparkled, the honey colored orbs standing out against the moonlight.  
  
Jou turned, and looked at Seto, as the brunette tried to move. He'd forgotten that Jou had super hearing.  
  
"What do you want, Kaiba?" Jou asked.  
  
Seto pulled something out of his coat pocket, "Here. I've been holding onto it much to long..."  
  
Jou took it. It was a picture. A picture of Mokuba and Shizuka, holding up an eight year old Hanyou, all were smiling.  
  
Jou's face softened as he looked at the picture, "Kaiba, you didn't have to..."  
  
"I know, but, she was your sister, after all."  
  
Jou looked up at Seto, before he did something unexpected. He hugged him.  
  
Seto's eyes widened, and got a weird sensation as he hugged him back.  
  
Jou pulled away, flushing, "Sorry."  
  
He looked as Yuugi, Ryou, and a few others filtered into the room.  
  
"It's lights out now, Kaiba," Jou murmured. The brunette nodded and left. Hanyou confronted him.  
  
"You can sleep in my chambers with me. I have an extra mattress. I can set you up on the floor."  
  
"Thank you, Hanyou," Seto replied. He followed her back into her room, and she pulled the extra mattress out from under her bed, and put a pillow and blanket on it.  
  
"There. Sleep well, uncle," She murmured, and got into her bed, turning out the light. 


	3. Chapter Three

Me: Okay okay, one thing I always forget when I write stories is the disclaimer. I don't any of the Yu-Gi-Oh! In any of my stories, so there. On with new chapter.  
  
!!!!  
  
Brutal Immortality  
  
!!!!  
  
Chapter Three  
  
!!!!  
  
"There's been another attack!" was what Seto awoke to the next morning. He opened his blue eyes, to find a pair of honey ones staring down at him, "Get up, Seto, get up! There's been another attack!"  
  
Jou led Seto out to the main conference room, where Kuri was holding Merriam's body close to him.  
  
"No...no..." He was murmuring.  
  
Everyone's eyes turned on Seto, who took a step back.  
  
Kuri looked at him, growling, "He did it! Merriam was killed within these walls, and he's the only vampire who knows the way in!"  
  
Seto shook his head, "I didn't."  
  
Kuri set Merriam's body down and stood, "He must've! Merriam was being untrustworthy of him, so he killed her to shut her up!"  
  
"No!"  
  
Kuri readied himself to pounce on the brunette, but Jou, in his full dog form jumped in front of Seto, growling at Kuri.  
  
He morphed back into himself, "Stop it, Kuri! Seto couldn't have been the one to kill Merriam. Hanyou told me when she woke up to Merriam's screams, Seto was still sleeping on the mattress by her bed!"  
  
Seto blinked. Why did the dog keep calling him by his first name?  
  
Kuri looked to Hanyou, who nodded, "The shadow of the vampire who killed Merriam retreated before I could catch him."  
  
Kuri looked down at Merriam. She was cold and white. Kuri glared at Seto. He now, like Ryou, hated vampires.  
  
Seto leaned against the wall, his head bowed, his unruly brown hair falling in front of his eyes. He didn't know what to do. The next time an inu-jin was killed, they'd blame him again. And he may not get off so easy.  
  
"I shouldn't be here. I'm a threat," Seto murmured.  
  
Jou tilted his chin up, "That's not true. We know you didn't do this. You couldn't have."  
  
Seto looked at the blonde. The blonde who didn't seem like boy he knew back in school. He seemed so different. So much more mature. And so much more beautiful.  
  
Seto nodded, "Thank you."  
  
Jou nodded and smiled, before walking away.  
  
Seto closed his eyes. This was one of those times that he wished Mokuba was still around. He needed someone to comfort him. To tell him everything would be all right, even if won't be. He needed Mokuba...or a friend. Anybody who would listen to him. Anybody who would -care-.  
  
Seto sighed, a heavy sigh, before walking over to Hanyou, "Now what?"  
  
Hanyou massaged her throbbing temples, "I don't know...this monster now knows where our hide out is. We'll need extra protection to keep him out."  
  
"Let me," Seto said.  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"Let me guard the entrance. I'm a creature of the night. I can handle it," the brunette replied.  
  
"Seto, that is putting you in a very vulnerable state..." Hanyou murmured, looking to the floor, her eyes flashing back and forth as if searching for something.  
  
"I owe it to your clan, Hanyou," Seto told her, his eyes determined. Hanyou looked back up at him, still not sure if this was a wise decision on her uncle's part, or a foolish way to get her clan to trust him. Either way, she knew she could not change his mind.  
  
"All right. But be very careful. If you're out there, and the other vampire comes and attacks another inu-jin, there are a -lot- of ways he can make it look like you did it. And then, even if you were innocent, I wouldn't be able to stop the clan from destroying you."  
  
With that Hanyou walked back into her chambers.  
  
Seto glanced toward the wall which secured her quarters, before he started walking toward the steps which led to exit and entrance to the inu-jin hide out. His arm was grabbed by someone's hand. He turned and was met by dark brown eyes, filled with worry.  
  
"Seto," Jou murmured, and paused.  
  
There was his first name again...why did Jou keep calling him that?  
  
"Be careful," He said, finally.  
  
Seto smirked, feeling like his old self for a second, "Why do you care, mutt?"  
  
Jou glared, and placed his hands on his hips, "Well...well...Shizuka and Mokuba would have wanted us to...to get along, and Shizuka probably wouldn't have liked it if I'd said something like 'I hope the other vampire EATS you.'"  
  
Seto glared back, "You always did waste my time, inu."  
  
"You know what, I don't even know why I tried! I hope the other vampire DOES eat you!" Jou growled, before turned and walking down one of the hallways.  
  
Seto scowled, and continued up the steps and out of the den. He sat out front, his head leaned back against the wall. Mokuba and Shizuka -would- have wanted them to get along. And for some reason, every time Seto was close to the blonde, he had a strange feeling in his chest. Like a tingle. Or a spark. It was strange to him. He shook his head, his eyes closing. He was a creature of the night. And so, as day had just begun, he was going to do what any nocturnal creature would. He was going to sleep.  
  
And he did.  
  
----------------  
  
When he awoke, he felt strange sensation in his neck. He stood up and inspected it. It was two puncture wounds. He blinked away the blurriness, and found himself back inside the inu-jin den. Still slightly bleary-eyed, he began to walk toward Hanyou's chambers when he tripped on something. He stood up and looked down.  
  
It was Kuri.  
  
He was dead.  
  
Seto noticed the Sun going down, and the inu-jins began to filter out of their rooms to hunt for the night. The brunette didn't know what to do. He was standing right by the body. He smelled blood. It was close. His eye teeth grew at the smell. He felt them, and his lips. His lips were sticky with something.  
  
The blood he smelled. Someone had smeared his lips with Kuri's blood. He'd never be able to convince the inu-jins it wasn't him. They'd, surely, kill him.  
  
Hanyou, Jou, Ryou and Yuugi emerged first from their respected resting places. Then a few others came out. All eyes were on him now. He had Kuri's blood on his lips, on his eye teeth. He was right by the body.  
  
A few people gasped, one screamed, and the rest growled. Most of them had, by then, reverted to their true forms, and were readying to pounce him. Seto was, literally, back into a wall.  
  
"Uncle...how could..." Hanyou's eyes were filled with tears, and she shook her head, turning away, two, small, almost incoherent words escaping her lips, "Kill him."  
  
The dog's pounced, and the tears fell from the woman's eyes.  
  
"No!" One screamed, and jumped in front of Seto. It was Jou. He was defending him. But why? What evidence did Jou have to believe that Seto had not done it? And what was this, Ryou was protecting him, too. Why?  
  
Hanyou called the dogs off, and looked at the two, curiously, "I don't understand..."  
  
Ryou reverted back into himself, "Hanyou, from the look of the body, Kuri was killed at least two hours ago. The blood on Kaiba's lips is fresh. If he'd killed Kuri, it would be dry by now."  
  
Ryou was right. The blood was still wet. But why would he help him, anyway? Even if he hadn't killed Kuri, Ryou still hated vampires. So why defend one, and stop his pack from ridding the city of one less vampire?  
  
Hanyou shook her head, and walked up to Seto. She glared at her, before slapping him. The clan all looked on.  
  
Seto blinked, his face now turned away from Hanyou.  
  
"Somehow, 'I told you so' doesn't quite do it," Hanyou snapped, "But I did! I told you that if you tried to guard the den, the vampire would find a way to frame you! And he almost succeeded!"  
  
Seto fingered the puncture wounds on his neck. The vampire must've drank enough of his blood to render him unconscious, and then placed him by Kuri's dead body. He couldn't have smeared Kuri's blood on his face, though, because, like Ryou said, it would be dry by then. But then, how did he get the blood on Seto's face?  
  
Seto closed his eyes, as he massaged his pounding head. When he opened them again, everything was blurry. He realized how weak he was. His legs gave way, and Jou and Hanyou were under his arms within seconds, holding him up.  
  
"He hasn't had anything to eat in two days, Hanyou," Jou murmured. Seto realized his weak state could be the state that just saved his life, but Jou was right. He needed blood.  
  
"I...I have to get out of here...b-before," Things were getting blurrier, "If I get any worse...the inu-jin scent...I don't want to attack...whoa..."  
  
He felt dizzy.  
  
Jou set him down, and Seto could see him pulling his shirt down a little bit. He arched his neck, "Here...this time I give it willingly."  
  
Seto breathed in Jou's blood's scent, which he could now smell fully, now that the sweet veins were revealed. His eye teeth grew, his eyes turned red, and his pierced Jou's flesh, drinking from him.  
  
Jou winced, but let the vampire devour his life fluid. He began to grow weaker, and just as he fainted, Seto pulled away, wiping his mouth.  
  
Jou fainted atop him, and Seto held him there, not sure of what else to do. Hanyou kneeled and took Jou from Seto, "He'll be all right. He's just unconscious. It was a very brave and kind thing he did for you, though."  
  
Seto nodded.  
  
-------------------  
  
Seto sat against a wall, outside Hanyou's quarters. He was a very pensive sight. Contemplating many things. His brother. Hanyou. Jou. Mostly Jou.  
  
He couldn't understand why Jou was treating him so kindly, and calling him by his first name. He didn't know why Jou had given up his blood, -willingly- to him. And now, it'd been twice that Jou jumped in front of him and was prepared to protect him from his own pack.  
  
Seto closed his eyes. He never really did understand the blonde, but back then, when they were teenagers, it was trivial things. Now it seemed, understanding Jou was at a whole new level.  
  
Speaking of which, the blonde suddenly emerged, looking tired. But he smiled at the brunette, "Feeling better?"  
  
Seto nodded, "You?"  
  
Jou nodded in reply and sat next to him.  
  
"I bet you're wondering why I've been so nice to you," He murmured.  
  
Seto blinked, "How did you--?"  
  
"I'm a dog...dog's know," Jou admitted, with a slightly sour grin, "Well, it's kind of...giving something back to Mokuba and Shizuka, I guess. I know they always hated it when we fought...because they were so much in love...even back then. So I think, if they're looking down on us right now, they'll finally be able to rest in peace, knowing they did something good by being the reason we don't fight anymore."  
  
Seto just stared at him, before he nodded, a small smile forming on his lips, "Yeah..."  
  
Jou looked up at him, smiling too.  
  
Ryou, Yuugi and Hanyou stood across the room.  
  
"Is it just me or do they seem—"Yuugi began.  
  
Hanyou nodded, "Yep. They definitely like each other. More then just friends, mind you. It is true that Jou wants to get along with Seto for his sister but—"  
  
"He's had feelings for Kaiba since high school," Ryou finished. He remembered overhearing a conversation about it that Jou had had with his sister. He hadn't meant to overhear it, but he already had dog ears and could ear from long distances.  
  
Hanyou nodded, "He told me when I first took him in. He actually let it slip, and seemed intrigued so he explained to me who Seto was and his feelings for him. Of course, he didn't know I already knew who Seto was."  
  
The trio looked back over, and saw Jou deep in conversation, and Seto slowly drifting off to sleep. It was a funny sight to see Jou rambling on, and Seto about to pass out.  
  
Jou stopped talking as he noticed the brunette falling asleep, and whacked him, "Hey! Don't fall asleep!"  
  
Seto snorted, as he jerked awake, "What, what?"  
  
Jou glared, but he was smiling, and his weak expression held little conviction.  
  
Hanyou walked over to Jou, "Come on, Jou. It's hunting time. We'll see you in a hour or so, uncle."  
  
Jou nodded and stood, following Hanyou and the rest of the pack up the stairs. Seto stood up, yawning. He walked over to the caskets that held Merriam and Kuri. They were propped up on the wall. They looked like old egyptian style sarcophaguses, but they were freshly carved out of a trees that a few of the pack had brought back.  
  
He opened them both, and began to inspect the wounds on their neck. From the look of the puncture holes, the vampire had gone deep into the vein before he actually started to drink any of the blood. Then, Seto noticed something. On both bodies, there was dried blood on the neck and part of their clothing.  
  
That's strange, he thought to himself, vampires never get any of the victim's blood on the body...unless...!  
  
--------------------  
  
The pack returned from their hunt, to find Seto pacing in front of the still open caskets.  
  
"What the hell are you doing, vampire!" Kenji, one of the bulkiest, and meanest of the clan, snapped, "All they're blood has been drank already, so I don't know why your snooping around for a snack!"  
  
"Kenji!" Hanyou scolded.  
  
"No! Hanyou, his statement is the perfect way for me to tell you what I'm about to tell you."  
  
He pulled Merriam's body, then Kuri's, and set them on the tables he'd set up.  
  
He looked at the clan, hard, and narrowed his eyes, "Here..."  
  
He pointed to both of their clothing, "...you will see that there are blood stains on each of their shoulders. And dried blood on each of their necks where the puncture wounds are. Now, I may not know much about your kind, but I know a thing or two about vampires, and vampires never spill blood, when they are drinking from a body."  
  
He stopped, his eyes cast down, but he was pacing, "No...this vampire did not drink the blood, and if he did, he did not drink much. This vampire did the old gasoline out of a car engine trick. He sucked on the puncture wounds, making the blood flow from them. When the blood stopped flowing, he'd suck again. He did this continuously until most, if not all the blood in their bodies were drained."  
  
He turned back to the clan, his eyes cold, and determined, "Once a quarter of the blood in a persons body is drained, they fall unconscious. More then half and you're dead. But you say most vampires who puncture an inu-jin with their fangs kill them instantly?"  
  
Hanyou nodded, "Almost always. It's very rare to have a case like yours' and Jou's."  
  
Speaking of that, why was Seto able to pierce Jou without killing him?  
  
He shook the thought away, "So, Kuri and Merriam didn't struggle at all because they were already dead. Which made it very easy for the vampire to steal the blood."  
  
"But -why- would he -want- the blood?" One of the pack members asked.  
  
Seto nodded, "That's the awful question, isn't it? Why, indeed..."  
  
Why indeed...  
  
Well, that was something Seto still had to figure out.  
  
And at this point...  
  
...he didn't have a clue.  
  
--------------------------------  
  
Me: And the plot thickens. Why is the vampire stealing blood and not drinking it? Hmmm....R/R and I might write more....for the plot is slowly revealing itself...and I know you all want to know what is going to happen....MWAHAHAHA! 


	4. Chapter Four

Brutal Immortality  
  
----------  
  
Chapter Four  
  
-----------  
  
Seto lay awake for hours that night, wondering what the vampire could want with the pack's blood. It didn't make sense to him. Vampire never killed -for- blood. They killed because they -needed- blood. So why would this vampire be stealing blood? It didn't add up.  
  
He sat up, resting his elbow on his knee, stroking his chin, his eyes searching. Searching for any kind of answer.  
  
Hanyou's head appeared peeking over the bed upside down. Even though she appeared older then Seto, she still held the childish quality that Seto had always loved about Mokuba within her.  
  
"What's wrong, uncle?"  
  
She looked concerned, despite being upside down.  
  
Seto grinned, "You poor strange little woman."  
  
Hanyou laughed, and flipped over, sitting on her knees, next to Seto. Seto had a small smile on his face, but it soon faded as the problem at hand resurfaced in his mind.  
  
"The blood. I don't understand why a vampire would steal it. We need blood to survive, and that's it. Why would some vampire be taking it? And inu-jin blood, no less..."  
  
Hanyou placed a soothing hand on Seto's shoulder, "It's all right, uncle..."  
  
"I know but..." Seto still seemed very pensive. Hanyou bit her lip.  
  
She didn't know what to say to him. He was her uncle after all. She'd known him since birth, and he hadn't aged a year. Techincally, he was suppose to be more intelligent than her. So what was she suppose to say? 'I'm sorry you don't have all the answers all the time'? That surely wouldn't bode well. And what about Seto's connection to Jou?  
  
She had come to that conclusion, herself. The only way an inu-jin could withstand the bite of a vampire was a connection of some kind. But what kind of connection could Seto and Jou have? Hanyou didn't know...  
  
She was just as confused as her poor uncle, but her mind was clouded with many more problems than just why a vampire was killing her kind and stealing their blood.  
  
She barely noticed Seto's head in her lap. He'd fallen back asleep.  
  
"Poor uncle. You're so stressed right now. I know you're torn. You want to help us, but I know you want to just live your life. I know you wouldn't even be here if not for me...and Jou..."  
  
She held him against her, as he slept, only small snores escaping his chapped, cracking lips. Hanyou placed his head back on his pillow, before standing and getting back in her own bed.  
  
Her thoughts fell on Jou and Seto's relationship, but only for a moment, as sleep reclaimed her.  
  
--------------------  
  
The clan awoke, and Hanyou called a meeting.  
  
"Listen, all of you!" She began, "There is a threat in our city. A city we have thrived in for hundreds of years! We cannot become extinct. We must live on! So I say to all...take heed! For this threat will not stop, until we find them, and stop them ourselves!"  
  
Seto was standing behind Jou, and he hugged him, when the blonde shivered in fear. It took Jou by surprise, but he hugged back, liking the feeling of the brunette's arms around him.  
  
Seto, himself, was surprised that he'd put his arms around him, but he, also, was not complaining at the feeling. When the meeting adjourned, they pulled apart, and Jou went over to Yuugi and Ryou. Yuugi looked Ryou, and Ryou looked as depressed and mean as ever.  
  
Seto felt bad. He remembered when Ryou was carefree and almost as happy, and goofy as Jou. Bakura's loss must have been a big one.  
  
--------------------  
  
Behind the game room wall was a library. Seto had found it a few days before, and was astounded at all the secrets the den held. He probably hadn't found them all either.  
  
He began to use to library, to try and find out why the inu-jin blood was being stolen. But he couldn't find anything.  
  
As he went for another book, he noticed something on the shelf that intrigued him. A photo album. Instead of pulling down the book he wanted, he pulled the photo album down.  
  
Seto opened it, and his eyes became sad. It was a picture of Shizuka holding a newborn Hanyou, and Mokuba hugging them both.  
  
He turned the page, and it was a picture of a three year old Hanyou learning to swim with her daddy. Seto could feel the unshed tears welling in his eyes. He turned the page, and a picture of a five year old Hanyou, being swung by her arms by her daddy and mommy.  
  
The tears began to fall, but Seto kept quiet, as he turned the pages. He did not sob or sniffle, but the tears fell faster, as every picture became visible to him, with a turn of a page. He closed the album, softly, and closed his eyes. He was crying outright and he knew it  
  
Soft hands rested on his shoulder, and he could hear a soft voice in his ear, trying to sooth him. He turned, and the person held him. Seto opened his eyes and looked up. Honey eyes met his, and Jou looked concerned. No, he looked pitying.  
  
Seto yanked away from him, "I don't need you pity, mutt!"  
  
Jou stepped back, "I...well fine!"  
  
The blonde ran out, his ears down, his blonde hair swaying violently as he ran away.  
  
Seto watched him go, feeling more guilty then he'd ever felt in his life, "I'm so sorry, Jou..."  
  
He buried his head in his arms. He felt pitiful, and wondered if he should have let Jou stay.  
  
-----------------  
  
Jou sniffed, hugging his knees to his chin. Ryou came up and sat next to him, "What's the matter, Jou?"  
  
Jou shook his head. How could he tell Ryou he had feelings for Seto? He had been so broken when he thought Seto was dead. Dead without even being able to tell him his feelings. Then Seto suddenly resurfaces, and Jou has another chance, and he's not going to screw it up by arguing with the brunette. So he begins to act nice to him, and it seems to be working, and then the brunette snaps at him.  
  
Jou sniffed again. He understood why the brunette was acting the way he was. But the harsh tone took him off guard. It hurt him, badly. He buried his face in his knees.  
  
Ryou put an arm around him, "It's all right, Jou. Bakura and I had our problems too."  
  
Jou looked at Ryou, shocked, "How did you—"  
  
Ryou smiled, "I just know."  
  
He suddenly became solemn, "I know how you feel for Kaiba, and I know you were so happy when he re-surfaced. But remember Jou...some of us have lost the ones we love forever."  
  
With that, he stood, and walked away.  
  
Jou sighed. Ryou was right. He shouldn't pity himself when he still had a chance to convince Seto. Ryou, on the other hand, would never see Bakura again.  
  
The blonde stood, and made his way up the stairs and outside, but not before grabbing a hate and coat, to cover is...difference from the humans.  
  
Seto walked out of the hall that lead from the gameroom at exactly the time Jou went up the stairs. His eyes widened, and he ran to follow him.  
  
-------------------  
  
Jou sighed, as he sat at a café. Two robot hands came up from out of the table, holding a hologram menu. Jou tapped his chin, before pressing 'latte' with his finger. One of the arms reverted into a scanner, and Jou bit his lip. He was not branded with a bar code. His clan was a hidden one, that the city rarely knew of.  
  
"Umm..." Jou murmured.  
  
Suddenly a forearm appeared under the scanner, "Here let me pay..."  
  
The robotic arms brought up a hologram receipt. Seto stroked his finger along the signature line, and his alias name appeared. The robotic arms sunk back into the table, and the two slots they had come from closed up.  
  
Another slot opened, a few seconds later, and closed up, as Jou's drink was placed before him, "Thanks..."  
  
Seto nodded. He looked at Jou, "You shouldn't be out here alone...it's dangerous..."  
  
"I needed to think. Besides, what kind of murderer is stupid enough to kill during the day, when people are lingering and he has a chance of being seen? I know what I was doing..." Jou murmured.  
  
Seto shook his head.  
  
"...but thank you," Jou said, "for following me...making sure I was okay. You have no idea how that makes me feel..."  
  
Seto just continued to stare at the blonde, as he sipped his latte. He could tell Jou was scared. He reached over and took his free hand, "I won't let anything hurt you."  
  
Jou looked at him, smiling, his eyes soft, "Thank you..."  
  
Suddenly a scream from outside.  
  
Jou and Seto stood, and ran out. A man lay in the middle of the street, his blood splayed on the asphault. Seto kneeled by him, finding to puncture holes on his neck.  
  
"He's going after humans, now," Seto murmured, looking up at Jou.  
  
Jou looked very frightened, "I don't think that's it...look again."  
  
Seto looked. The person was just a kid, no more then twenty years old. He had blonde hair, and brown eyes.  
  
"He thought this kid was you...that's why his blood is on the street and not in jars at his hideout..." Seto murmured, "He was after you..."  
  
Jou was shaking, violently. Seto stood and pulled him into his arms, his eyes never leaving the dead body. The police came, but Seto and Jou were long gone, by then.  
  
-----------------  
  
Jou was pacing, frantically, when they got back to the den, and had retreated into the library.  
  
"I'm...I'm his next target. He won't stop until I'm dead. I...I...oh my gods, I'm dead meat," He said, his voice rising a few decibels.  
  
Hanyou shook her head, "You were the closest inu-jin that he could target. He just made a mistake, that's all."  
  
"But the guy -looked- like me! And he didn't have the inu-jin scent! The vampire didn't kill him out of mistake. He thought it was -me-."  
  
"No, Jou. Remember what Hanyou said before? This vampire is use to the inu- jin scent. Even if you were the one he'd gotten a hold of, he wouldn't have been able to tell if you were human or not. Just like he did with this guy," Set replied.  
  
Jou sighed, "Okay, so it may have been a mistake but—"  
  
"Yes, nonetheless, Jou should be guarded at all times," Hanyou finished.  
  
"I'll stay with him," Seto said, "I—"  
  
"—No! Not again, Seto. I won't let you get yourself into trouble with this vampire again," Jou said. He sounded very concerned for the brunette.  
  
"But, I don't want you to get hurt, and I promised you I'd prote—"  
  
"I know, and I know you will when the time comes, but not now...it's to dangerous..." Jou replied.  
  
Seto huffed, and crossed his arms over his chest.  
  
"Let me," Ryou said, suddenly, "If this is the same vampire that killed Bakura, then I want to be the one who comes face to face with him."  
  
Hanyou sighed, "Next to Seto and Jou, you are our strongest asset, Ryou, so I'll let you protect Jou, for now."  
  
Ryou nodded. Seto huffed again. He was the one who'd made the promise. He had intended on keeping it. Hanyou looked at him, "It's all right, Seto. We're just trying to protect you."  
  
"And that's all I wanted to do for Jou." He sighed, and turned his eyes away from them. Jou kneeled by him, looking up at him, "Thank you, Seto. I appreciate it. I really do. But as much as you don't want me to get hurt, I don't want you to either..."  
  
"I'd rather be killed by your pack for being framed, then be the reason you were killed," Seto replied. He didn't say another word, before he stood up and walked out.  
  
Jou sighed. He walked out as well, Ryou following.  
  
----------------  
  
The vampire sneered at the one before her, "You've been spying on me."  
  
The other vampire just glared back, his cold brown eyes narrowed, venomously.  
  
"Do you really think if I go after your lover, you'll be able to stop me?" She asked, smirking, cruelly, "You would not have the power. Not with all the inu-jin blood I've consumed."  
  
She kicked him, "You pathetic fool. You use to be something. Cruel, and cold. And I almost disposed of you, once. I seemed to have transformed you instead. But that is all right. I can kill you now."  
  
The other vampire hissed, and jumped back. The woman growled, her pale face twisting up in anger.  
  
The other vampire ran. He escaped. But not unscathed.  
  
-----------------  
  
Ryou watched Jou, sitting, leaned against a large dog statue that sat in the middle of the main room. Jou was pacing again.  
  
"I didn't mean to upset him..." Jou murmured. Ryou was playing with a knife. It had been one of Bakura's. He'd become quite good with it. He tossed it in the air, and caught it by the hilt.  
  
"It's all right, Jou. He won't stay mad for long..." Ryou replied, looking at the knife, "They never do..."  
  
Jou looked at Ryou, and his face softened. He sat next to him, and hugged him.  
  
Ryou looked at him, and leaned his head on his shoulder, murmuring softly, "I miss him so much. And every day that goes by, I wonder if I had been a stronger inu-jin, like I am now, if I could have saved him..."  
  
"Don't blame yourself. He gave his life for you..." Jou replied.  
  
Ryou nodded, but he did not feel any better, as he stared at the gem encrusted hilt of the fold down knife that lay in his palm. He squeezed his in his hand, and bowed his head, "'Kura..."  
  
Jou hugged him tighter.  
  
Suddenly, loud crashing could be heard from upstairs. They guessed it was the trashcans, in the alley where the door to the den was located, being knocked over.  
  
Most of the pack, including Jou, Ryou, Yuugi, Hanyou and Seto, ran up the stairs and out there. The trashcans, and most of the debris that had been in them covered the body, but Seto knew the smell.  
  
"It's another vampire," He murmured.  
  
Ryou moved toward it, seeing something that shocked him to no end.  
  
"No, Ryou! It could be the one that's been attacking us!" Yuugi cried.  
  
Ryou ignored him. He kneeled down, picking up the piece of white hair that stuck out of the debris with his fore and middle fingers. He swept the trash away from the man's face, and gasped, "It can't be..."  
  
(AN Stop...don't stop...hmmm...keeps going)  
  
The rest of the pack looked on. Ryou touched the man's face, and he jerked away, jumping back and hissing.  
  
Ryou was looking at him, "How...how...'Kura..."  
  
It was Bakura.  
  
Ryou stood up, and for a second, Seto thought he saw the old Ryou.  
  
Ryou walked, slowly, over to him, "'Kura..."  
  
Bakura backed away, and went to run, when he finally noticed a pain in his side. He groaned, and fell down to his knee. Ryou gave a little cry and knelt by him, "You're hurt..."  
  
"It's fine," Bakura whispered, but he looked up at Ryou. He looked so different. He was paler then usual, with large bags under his eyes as if he hadn't slept in decades—which was probably true. His hair had gotten longer, and his mouth held this ever depressed frown, even when he tried to smile.  
  
"Who are you?" Bakura asked, "What have you done with my Ryou?"  
  
Ryou sobbed, burying his face in his hands. Bakura reached out. It had been three centuries since he'd ever touched his sweet angel. He, hesitantly, put his arms around him, pulling him against him, no matter how much the extra weight hurt his, obviously, broken ribs.  
  
"Oh, 'Kura!" Ryou sobbed into his chest, "I missed you so much!"  
  
Bakura felt dizzy, "Ryou..."  
  
Ryou's scent was overpowering him, "Ryou, get away from me...I'll..."  
  
His voice was soft. He was only trying to protect Ryou.  
  
Seto noticed the manner of him, "He hasn't eaten in a few days. Ryou, get away from him before he bites you."  
  
"No!" Ryou moved his hair over his shoulder, "If he needs blood, he can have mine."  
  
"Ryou," Bakura choked out, feeling ready to faint. He couldn't take it anymore, like Seto, with the veins exposed to him. His eye teeth grew, and he sunk them into Ryou's flesh. Ryou winced, but did not falter.  
  
Bakura drank his fill, and pulled away from Ryou, who slumped against him.  
  
"F...feel bedder, 'Kuraaaa...?" Ryou slurred, very weak. Bakura looked to the pack; "I can't carry him. My ribs..."  
  
Seto picked Ryou up, who fell unconscious. Jou helped Bakura back inside.  
  
---------------  
  
Ryou sat up in bed, glancing around, and hoping everything hadn't just been a horrible dream. But he was proven wrong as Bakura walked into the room, shirtless, with bandages around his torso.  
  
Ryou smiled, "'Kura, you're alive..."  
  
Bakura sat on his bed, "I'm sorry I didn't come for you, angel. You had to keep believing I was dead. But I missed you."  
  
He touched Ryou's cheek.  
  
"I forgive you, 'Kura. I've missed you, too," Ryou held up the knife, "It was the only one I could find. About a hundred and fifty years ago, the apartment building we lived in burned down. Everything that was in it burned with it. Except that knife and this..."  
  
The ring appeared. No longer was it black, and dead. It was alive, again.  
  
Bakura smirked, and took the knife, "From what I hear, your quite good with this knife. And one of the toughest in your clan. I'm proud of you, aibou."  
  
Ryou blushed, and leaned on him.  
  
"Ow!" Bakura said, wincing.  
  
"Oh, sorry."  
  
Bakura smirked again, and cupped his chin. "Forgiven."  
  
And he kissed him. Ryou melted, kissing him back, and so glad that he had him back.  
  
-----------------  
  
Outside the door, Seto and Jou looked on, and Jou looked up at Seto, smiling.  
  
Seto caught the gaze, and half smiled back, taking Jou's hand. They didn't have the courage to tell each other all of their feelings but for right now, this would do.  
  
Jou looked at their intertwined hands.  
  
Yeah, this would do.  
  
------------------------------------  
  
Me: Yay! Bakura is back! I just love the RxB coupling to much to keep Bakura dead. Well, R/R! 


	5. Chapter Five

Brutal Immortality  
  
---------------  
  
Chapter Five  
  
---------------  
  
Seto was in the library again. He was there a lot lately, Jou and Hanyou noted. They supposed he was looking for something. Anything that would help.  
  
To no avail.  
  
Jou walked in one day, with a cup of something on a tray. He set it down. Seto blinked at it.  
  
Jou smiled, "Blood. For you. You've been in here for a while, I thought you might be hungry..."  
  
Seto blinked again and picked it up, "Umm...it's..."  
  
"Cow blood. From our hunt last night...Hanyou saved it for you...and Bakura, I guess," Jou replied.  
  
Seto sniffed it, then shrugged and took a drink, before setting it down and turning the page in the book he was looking at. He licked his lips, "Mn. Not bad."  
  
Jou laughed, and sat next to him.  
  
"So, what're you looking at?" He asked, softly.  
  
Seto sighed, "Nothing that can help, unfortunately."  
  
He slammed the book closed, and picked up the cup, which held the thick, crimson substance. He leaned his chair back and put his feet up on the table, drinking it, slowly. Jou turned, slightly, to look at him, "Have you found anything?"  
  
Seto pulled the cup away from his lips, licking any excess that might have been clinging there, "Nothing essential. A few things about the scent of inu-jin blood, and the feud that's been going on for many millennia between vampires and inu-jins. Things like that, but nothing as to why a vampire would -steal- inu-jin blood."  
  
He stared at the thick liquid in the cup, swirling it, softly, before taking another drink. Jou sighed, "Well, thanks for trying."  
  
Seto looked back up at him, "I'm not going to give up, Jou. There are millions of books here. I'll find it. Don't worry."  
  
He finished his drink, and set the cup down, looking at Jou. Jou just sighed again, and picked up the tray with the empty cup, before walking out.  
  
----------------------  
  
Jou walked out and found Ryou and Bakura in a corner. Bakura was stroking the dog ears that rested, soundly, on Ryou's head. He saw Ryou sigh and lean against Bakura.  
  
He turned and looked back toward the library. Would he ever be able to tell Seto how he felt? And have that kind of relationship with him?  
  
-------------------------  
  
Hanyou sat in the room Jou shared with Yuugi and Ryou, with Yuugi.  
  
"So, you think you've figured out the connection?" Yuugi asked, "Between Kaiba and Jou?"  
  
"It became clear to me a few nights ago, when Bakura drank Ryou's blood. Ryou had the same reaction as Jou, but he didn't die," Hanyou replied.  
  
Yuugi blinked and looked at Hanyou, "I don't—"  
  
"Love, Yuugi." Hanyou said, finally, "Love is the connection. The love that Seto and Jou have for each other, though hidden, is protecting Jou from Seto's bite."  
  
Yuugi's eyes shone with pensiveness. He bit his lip, as he thought that, now, he was the only one really vulnerable. Sure, Seto and Bakura's love could not protect Jou and Ryou from other vampires' bites, but Seto and Bakura -could-. So where was Yami? Why hadn't Yami come back to try and help Yuugi? A million questions swarmed in Yuugi's head. But the one that stood out the most.  
  
Wherever Yami was, did he love him?  
  
---------------------------  
  
Seto slammed another book onto the shelf, and growled. This was becoming a tiresome game. There were millions of books in the library and not one was helping him. He needed another solution. Another way to find out the vampire's plan.  
  
He walked out of the library, his face hard as stone. Almost two weeks, not sleeping, barely eating, and reading book after book, and he still hadn't found anything that would help! He slumped against a wall, tired, and more alone then he'd felt in a long time. His eyes slipped closed and...  
  
---Dream Sequence---  
  
Seto was gliding. Gliding with his bat-like wings. He was soaring over Domino. The old Domino. Suddenly, he saw something that caught his eye. It Jou and Mokuba. Standing together. Gazing up at him.  
  
He landed, and they both smiled at him.  
  
"Hey, nii-san," Mokuba said, smiling at him, his voice like an echo. He was young again. Eleven or twelve. Seto looked at Jou.  
  
Jou was, really, sixteen again, smiling at him, "Seto...I love you."  
  
He leaned forward, and Seto wrapped his wings around both of them. Jou smiled again, and leaned up. They were only inches apart, and then Jou...  
  
---End Dream---  
  
"Seto, wake up!"  
  
...yelled.  
  
"Wake UP!!"  
  
Seto's eyes shot open, "What? Are you all right?"  
  
"Yes, I'm fine, but I thought you were having a nightmare. You were mumbling things, and puckering your lips like you'd just eaten something sour," Jou replied. Seto flushed, and grasped Jou's hand pulling him down to sit next to him. Jou blinked, but smiled, and leaned his head on Seto's shoulder.  
  
He began to sing softly.  
  
"Ikutsu namida o nagashitara. Every heart. Sunao ni nareru darou. Dare ni omoi tsutaetara. Every heart. Kokoro mita sareru no darou..."  
  
Seto repeated the words, only in English, "If there were many tears falling down, every heart would become gentle. If everybody expresses what they think, every heart can be satisfied..."  
  
Jou smiled at him and kept singing.  
  
"Nagai nagai yoru ni obieteita, tooi hoshi ni inotteta."  
  
"I was frightened by the never-ending night, so I prayed to the distant stars," Seto sang after.  
  
"Meguru meguru toki no naka de Bokutachi wa ai o sagashiteiru Tsuyoku tsuyoku naritai kara kyou mo takaisora miageteiru," Jou's voice was like honey to Seto's ears.  
  
"In endlessly repeating time, we were searching for love, because we wanted to become stronger. We look up to the faraway sky."  
  
Jou laughed, softly, but his voice did not waver, "Donna egao ni deaetara. Every heart yume wo fumidasereruyo hitowa kanashimi no mukou ni. Every heart shiawase ukabete nemuru."  
  
And Seto followed right along, "The two of us, smiling, meet here. Every heart has a habit of receiving its dreams. Sadness has no effect on us. Every heart gains happiness when it flies."  
  
Jou didn't even notice himself scooting closer to Seto, or Seto's arm looped comfortably around his shoulders. He just kept singing.  
  
"Itsuka itsuka subete no tamashii ga, yasuraka ni nareru youni."  
  
"Someday our souls will unite, we will give peaceful approval."  
  
Jou yawned, "Meguru meguru toki no naka de boku tachi wa ikite nanika wo shiru. Toki ni warai shugoshi naite kyou mo mada aruki tsuzukete iku."  
  
"In endlessly repeating time, we know why we are living. We go through the nighttime laughing, both of us are mourning, yet we walk on." Seto sang, his voice a mere murmur.  
  
"Osanai kioku no kata sumi ni, atatakai basho ga aru soushi. Hoshi tachi ga hanasu mirai ga, itsumo kagayaite ita. So shine." Jou's voice was a whisper, his eyes closed. He was so close to sleep. And he loved the feeling of being so close to brunette.  
  
The brunette just kept on, "Memories of everything has settled, this is a warm place to be. The stars separate us from the future, we are always so brilliant. So shine."  
  
"Meguru meguru toki no naka de Bokutachi wa ai o sagashiteiru Tsuyoku tsuyoku naritai kara kyou mo takaisora miageteiru," Jou murmured, smiling, as sleep began to slowly claim him.  
  
"In endlessly repeating time, we were searching for love, because we wanted to become stronger. We look up to the faraway sky."  
  
"Meguru meguru toki...no naka de boku...tachi wa...ikite nanika wo...shiru. Toki ni warai...shugoshi naite kyou...mo mada aruki tsuzukete...iku..." His voice slowly faded away, and steady breathing replaced it.  
  
Seto finished the song, "In endlessly repeating time, we know why we are living. We go through the nighttime laughing, both of us are mourning, yet we walk on."  
  
He pulled the boy, closer, murmuring, "I love you, koinu..."  
  
Though, he knew Jou could not hear. Hanyou and Ryou stood outside the door, looking in on them.  
  
Ryo smiled at Hanyou, "They really are perfect together..."  
  
Hanyou nodded, "Yep..."  
  
Seto leaned his head atop the blonde's, closing his eyes.  
  
---------------------  
  
"Okay, Bakura, tell us everything you know," Hanyou said a few hours later. Ryou was re-wrapping his wounds, when she asked. Jou, Seto, and Yuugi were also in the room.  
  
"Okay, well—ow!" Bakura glared down at Ryou, who grinned, sheepishly, "Gomen, 'Kura."  
  
Bakura smirked, and looked back up at Hanyou, "I don't know much. Except the vampire you're looking for is a woman. I've never see her face. She was always in shadow. But I could tell by the shape of her silhouette and the sound of her voice."  
  
Ryou kissed the place where his ribs were cracked, after tying the bandages, "There. I'm done."  
  
He stood up straight, his white dog ears sticking straight up, his tail swaying, slightly. Bakura knew he was anticipating something by the way his tail moved. Ryou pushed himself up on his bed.  
  
Bakura smirked, "Well, I think it's time you all left."  
  
Jou grinned, "I'm sure you do..."  
  
He was dragged out by Seto, but not after making some crude noises, causing Bakura to throw something at him. Seto closed the door, before Jou got hit, and the blonde was laughing so hard, that Seto had to sling him over his shoulder, because he couldn't move.  
  
-----------------------  
  
Jou hummed, as he pulled another book off the shelf. He opened it, and looked through it. Nothing...  
  
He sighed and yawned. He knew Seto needed to sleep, and that's why he'd taken this job, for now.  
  
But he was tired now, and he still hadn't found the evidence he needed. He pulled out the photograph Seto had given him.  
  
Imouto, he thought, I need your help...  
  
He sighed and placed his head in his folded arms, on a vacant table. But he wasn't going to sleep. Just rest his eyes...  
  
---Dream Sequence---  
  
"Jou..."  
  
That voice...so familiar...  
  
"Jou..."  
  
Where was it? All he could see was darkness.  
  
"Jou..."  
  
He had to reach it. He groped the air. Nothing.  
  
"Wake up, Jou..."  
  
What?  
  
"Wake up, Jou..."  
  
--End Dream--  
  
"Wake up, Jou!" said a darker, richer voice then that of the dream. His eyes fluttered open, to be met by a pair of violet ones.  
  
"What's wrong, Yuugi?" Jou asked.  
  
"Kaiba's sick. His eye teeth have grown too large, and he's trying to attack us. Hanyou had to tie him down. He's growling, and crying how sorry he is. He says he can't control himself," Yuugi said, softly.  
  
Jou's eyes widened, and he shot up, and ran into Hanyou's room. Seto was tied to her bedposts, thrashing around, his eyes blood red, his eyeteeth, hanging, abnormally low, below his bottom lip.  
  
He eyed Jou, and hissed, pulling on his restraints, his eyes flashing, before he panted heavily, and relaxed, "Jou...I'm sorry, I can't..."  
  
Again, he hissed, and tried to pulled free from his restraints, and attack Jou. Jou jumped back.  
  
"Seto, what's wrong? What is it?"  
  
Hanyou pushed Jou aside, as she entered the room. She had a book open, "It must be another vampire."  
  
Jou blinked, "What?"  
  
"If a vampire is powerful enough, and has the right magical resources, he or she can transfer their spirit to another vampire, and control them. Possess them basically," Hanyou read from the book.  
  
Seto was panting again.  
  
"Whoever is doing this to him," Hanyou began, "doesn't have a very strong hold on him. He keeps pulling out of their grasp every few moments."  
  
He began to thrash again, struggling with his bonds, his back arching from the bed, his feet kicking. Jou reached out, wanting to hold him, touch him, but he snapped at his hands, and Jou jumped back.  
  
"How...how do we fix it?" Jou asked, softly. Seto was tired, Jou could tell. He panted again, and looked at Jou, "...so...so sorry..."  
  
Hanyou turned the page, "With a spell, but we don't have nearly enough resources to use it. We need black coal, which we have, so we can draw a Pentagram around the bed...but he also need rosemary, wolfsbane, which we can't touch, and the feathers of a nightingale. Now the rosemary is no problem, but wolfsbane doesn't grow in Japan. At least not anywhere close. The only place you can find it is in Kyoto, and by the time you get there and back, the other vampire could have full hold over him.  
  
"Plus, we'd still need those feathers, which are almost impossible to find, considering nightingales are almost extinct. Basically, we're screwed."  
  
Jou's eyes saddened, considerably. He watched as Seto thrashed on the bed, growling, and kicking. It hurt him to see Seto like this. He knew the brunette was in pain. He had to help. He couldn't just leave it aside.  
  
"I want to go. I want to go, and get the things. I can't watch him like this. It hurts too much. Let me go," Jou murmured. Ryou, Bakura and Yuugi, who were standing in the doorway, stepped up.  
  
"We'll help, as well," Ryou murmured. Bakura nodded, "I'm sure I can get the wolfsbane."  
  
Hanyou looked at all of them, "All right...I suppose with your dog like speed, and senses, you might be able to get the things in time. I'll draw the pentagram around him. They have a spell here, where I can hold the possessor off, but I don't know how long I'll be able to hold it up. So hurry. I trust you, my clan. Don't fail me."  
  
Jou, Ryou and Yuugi warped, and Bakura's large bat wings grew from his back. Hanyou nodded to each of them, before they left.  
  
-------------------------------------  
  
I had major writer's block when I wrote this chapter...but thankfully I came up with something. Poor Seto, I hope Jou and the others can get the assets in time. Anyway, review! 


	6. Chapter Six

Brutal Immortality  
  
---  
  
Chapter Six  
  
---  
  
He was asleep now, Seto was. Or so Hanyou had deducted.  
  
Her poor uncle. If only her dad could see him now...  
  
Suddenly, he gasped, and sat up, as far as he could with the bonds on his wrists. He began to thrash, his eyes red, kicking his feet.  
  
Hanyou began to murmur something.  
  
"Desino malefactor.  
  
Insisto tuus taeter actio.  
  
Aufugio for the locus, altilis animans."  
  
(Cease, evildoer.  
  
Pause you hideous action.  
  
Flee for the moment, fowl being.)  
  
Hanyou continued to murmur the words, and Seto's thrashing minimized, but did not cease completely.  
  
Hanyou's tongue wrapped around the words, continuously, a constant chant. But she silently hoped that Jou and the others hurried up.  
  
---  
  
Bakura hovered over, ahead of the his inu-jin companions. He could see the temples of Kyoto in the distance, but they were still a good portion of time away. He'd say a good two hours at least. And the sun was coming out. He landed, and waiting for his companions to catch up.  
  
The dogs stopped, and panted, sitting down. Ryou morphed into his semi- human form, "What is, 'Kura?"  
  
"We've been going all night, we need to stop for the morning."  
  
"No!" Bakura and Ryou turned. Jou and Yuugi had morphed back, and Jou looked frantic.  
  
"We don't have time. We need to get the wolfsbane!" Jou asked, his eyes glazing over with unshed tears. Ryou looked up at Bakura, who nodded, unfolding his wings from around himself, "We keep going then."  
  
He took off, as the other three reverted back to dog form and followed.  
  
---  
  
Kenji stepped into Hanyou's room, "How is he?"  
  
"Still horrible," Hanyou murmured, looking at her uncle. She had stopped chanting, for Seto had calmed, considerably.  
  
"I'm quite worried, Kenji...what if Jou does not get back in time?"  
  
The blue eyed man listened. His though process had not faltered, even though control of his body had. He was the reason Jou was out there, in the midst of the dangerous vampires who wished to destroy his kind. And Jou had made the choice to help him, on his own. The thought made Seto smile.  
  
Don't smile...  
  
Don't ever smile...  
  
Kill Hanyou...  
  
Kill her...  
  
Seto hissed, and began to thrash again, unable to control himself, as he tried to move toward Hanyou.  
  
The inu-jin leader began to chant again. It was becoming monotonous. But she had to keep at it, at least until Jou and the others returned.  
  
Kenji nodded his head, slightly, and left.  
  
---  
  
They made it to Kyoto, and Bakura landed. The other's morphed back.  
  
"Let's find that wolfsbane."  
  
---  
  
"Evil is in our midst." Said the sensei.  
  
"Yes, master..." the other replied.  
  
"Destroy it, pupil."  
  
"Yes, master..." the robed figure nodded and left.  
  
---  
  
Jou was having no luck. He looked everywhere. But he couldn't find the wolfsbane. He couldn't find it.  
  
"Jou-kun! Jou-kun!" Ryou called, as he held out a few stems of a sweet smelling green plant.  
  
"The rosemary! Good job, Ryou!" Jou smiled, and patted his friend on the back.  
  
A howl, and a loud hiss, and Jou and Ryou turned.  
  
"That sounded like Yuugi," Jou murmured.  
  
"And 'Kura..."  
  
They ran. They ran as fast as they could.  
  
Jou gasped at what he saw.  
  
Yuugi-inu lay on his side on the ground, a spirit wards stuck, unmoving, to his other side.  
  
Bakura was almost in the same predicament. The ward stuck his chest, and his wings seemed to a wilt a little, as he lay sprawled on the ground.  
  
"Oh no!" Ryou cried, as he ran up to Bakura, pulling him into his arms. All four were caught in shadow, as well as the attacker.  
  
"Who are you!" Jou growled, his ears perking up, his canines showing as he growled.  
  
A spirit ward shot toward him. He jumped out of the way and into the light. He heard a gasp from the attacker.  
  
The attacker stepped forward, and recognized Bakura and Ryou. He slumped next to the dog that he'd attacked, and noticed the multi-colors of the dog's fur.  
  
"Yuugi...what have done..."  
  
Jou recognized the voice, and his honey eyes widened, "Yami-kun!"  
  
The attacker stood and stepped forward, and it was indeed Yami, clad in priest's robes. He held Yuugi-inu in his arms, as the boy slowly morphed back into his little hikari.  
  
The puzzle glowed, welcoming it's resident back, but Yuugi did not wake. Yami reached out and pulled the scroll from Yuugi's abdomen, and his eyes fluttered.  
  
He opened them and gazed up, "Y-Yami...?"  
  
"Aibou...gomen ne..." Yami looked miserable with guilt. He'd attacked his aibou. His aibou that he'd come to Kyoto for. Came here to train so he could protect him. How could he?  
  
Yuugi smiled and reached up, pressing a small hand to Yami's cheek, "I missed you..."  
  
"And I you, little one..." Yami murmured. Jou's heart ached. Not only was Seto slowly losing himself to another vampire, but Jou hadn't even told him his feelings yet. Something gleamed behind the happy two though. A silver plant (not sure if that's really the color).  
  
"The wolfsbane..." Jou murmured. Yami turned, "But inu-jins are forbidden to touch it."  
  
"Yes, but we need it, Yami-chan," Yuugi murmured to his darker. Yami set Yuugi down, softly, and picked a few stems of it.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Seto is possessed. We need it to save him." Jou replied.  
  
"Kaiba Seto?" Yami questioned, blinking, surprised at the news. Jou noded, his head bowed, his fist clenched against his chest. He closed his eyes, a few tears sneaking through.  
  
Yami ripped a piece of his robe and wrapped the plant into it. He handed it to Jou, "I hope you save him."  
  
Yuugi's eyes became sad, "Are you not coming with us, Yami?"  
  
"I can't, chibi tenshi," Yami murmured, hugging him, "I need to finish my training..."  
  
Yuugi began to cry, clinging to him, "I missed you so much, you have to come with us! Yami, please!"  
  
He clung. He clung for dear life. He didn't want to let go again. After all his searching, all his wondering. He sobbed harder.  
  
Yami pulled away from Yuugi, and kneeled, wiping his tears away, "No matter what, Yuugi, I will always love you. But you must believe that I will come for you. Do you?"  
  
Yuugi sniffed and nodded, "Y-Yami, we still need Nightingale f-feathers. Can you h-help us?"  
  
Yami smiled, "The temple I apprentice at keeps a Nightingale in the temple owner's daughter's room. She has terrible insomnia. It helps her."  
  
Yuugi smiled.  
  
---  
  
"We've got it!" Jou called, two days later, when they entered the den again. They rushed into Hanyou's room, and found Hanyou face down on the ground.  
  
"Oh no!" Jou cried.  
  
"She's alive," Ryou said.  
  
"Jou, look out!" Yuugi exclaimed.  
  
Seto leaped from the ceiling, tackling Jou to the ground. He struggled.  
  
"If I can't kill you by bite," Seto said, his voice holding a weird, high- pitched vibration behind it, "then I'll just drink all of your blood!"  
  
"You leave Seto alone! Seto, listen! Fight them!"  
  
"Seto is no longer here," The voice said, eyes bright red and wide, grin large and psychotic. The eye teeth grew large, ready to plunge into the blonde.  
  
FWAP! A spirit ward hit Seto square in the forehead, and he fell back, convulsing.  
  
Jou picked him up and strapped him back onto the bed.  
  
"Is the other vampire gone?" Jou asked. Yami shook his head, as he stepped into the room, "No, that ward was not powerful enough."  
  
Jou noticed the ward disintegrate, and he began to thrash again. Jou crushed the rosemary, nightingale feathers and wolfsbane (which Yami put in for him), together before sprinkling it over him. He hissed, loud and low.  
  
Jou picked up Hanyou's book, "All right...here we go..."  
  
"Desero, malefactor  
  
Aufugio absisto hic corpus  
  
Desero, malefactor.  
  
Aufugio absisto hic CORPUS!"  
  
(Leave, evildoer  
  
Flee from this body  
  
Leave evildoer  
  
Flee from this BODY!)  
  
Seto's back arched from the bed, and a black and grey smoke rose from his mouth and eyes, and swirled above him, before flying through the wall.  
  
Jou dropped the book and hugged the brunette, sobbing about how worried he was. Seto looked at him with half lidded eyes, "Jou...don't cry..."  
  
Seto blinked, wondering why the blonde had been so worried. He winced as his eyeteeth retracted back into his gums. Seto blinked, as he realized Jou hadn't moved yet. He was still clinging to him, as if Seto was his only lifeline.  
  
"Um, mutt...you can get up now..."  
  
Jou flushed as he sat up, then his face contorted with irritation, "I'm not a..."  
  
He glanced back at his tail, then made a face, "You're an ass."  
  
Seto grinned, "I know."  
  
"I'm...glad you're okay though..." Jou replied, his head down, his ears twitching cutely.  
  
Yuugi and Yami watched from the door, before Yuugi turned to Yami, "Why did you come back?"  
  
Yami pulled the smaller boy close to him, burying his face in the his tri- colored locks, "Because I realized, there are more important things to me then finishing my training."  
  
Yuugi smiled, and cuddled closer, "I'm glad."  
  
---  
  
"Damn them!" The female vampire hissed. Her clan looked at her.  
  
"They forced me back...I nearly had control over that traitorous free- spirited vampire!" Her eyes gleamed with malice. She began to pace.  
  
"I'm losing my strength. It's because I have not consumed inu-jin blood in a while. I must get the blood of Hanyou. She in the strongest of their kind..."  
  
"You are mistaken, m'lady..."  
  
---  
  
Books. Always books, Jou thought. He was eating books, sleeping books, even dreaming books, and neither he nor Seto had found anything substantial to their cause, and they'd gone through -so- many -books-!  
  
Jou's head hit the table.  
  
"Come on, pup. Get up, we're not finished yet."  
  
"I don't waaannnaaa," Jou whined, his voice muffled by the table. Seto smirked, and leaned over, whispering in his ear, "I'll give you a doggy biscuit."  
  
Jou whapped him in the face, glaring at him, "V-very funny..."  
  
He was bit shaken by the feel of the other's breath on his ear. Seto only snickered. Jou glared at him, "You bastard."  
  
Seto only laughed. Jou kept his head on the table, "I'm so tired...no more reading...no more..."  
  
"Jou, look," Seto said.  
  
Jou looked up, and Seto held a book in front of him. Jou shrieked, and pushed his chair back a few feet. Seto laughed, his eyes filling with tears from the hilarity of it all.  
  
Jou glared daggers.  
  
"All right, all right, go and sleep, before your whining kills me," Seto murmured. Jou stood up, and began to walk toward the door.  
  
"Jou."  
  
He turned to look at him.  
  
"Um...sleep well."  
  
Jou smiled, "Oyasumi, Seto."  
  
"Oyasumi..."  
  
Jou turned and walked out. Seto looked down at the book in his hand, before setting it down, and pulling his Duel Monster locket out of his shirt. He opened it, and stared at his small brother, "Otouto, I need your help...I know I've come to you before, asking for simple little things. But this is the most complicated thing I've ever come to you for...I think I'm in love...but I just...don't know how to tell him."  
  
He stared at the photo for a long while, and nothing happened, "I understand, otouto, I'm sure you've got a lot going on up there."  
  
He closed the locket, and scowled at the wall, "Stupid mutt...why do you affect me so."  
  
He stood up, and made his way out, going into Hanyou's room, lying down on the mattress that had been there for him since day one. He stared up at the ceiling, "I'm in love with Jounouchi Katsuya."  
  
His eyes fluttered close, and he fell asleep.  
  
---------  
  
I know I kind of left some ends untied in this chap. I did this on purpose. It gives the chapter some depth. Leaves people guessing. Makes people review for more. But I assure you, those ends won't be tied for a few chapters. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't review. And yay! Now we know Yami is okay too. Anyway, review. 


	7. Chapter Seven

Okay okay, I have a few things to tie up, since one of my reviewers decided to point out some of the flaws in the story XD. Not that I resent her or anything.  
  
So, to Violent Tendencies – I'd forgotten that that side of the world uses the metric system...and I'm in America, so I'm use to using customary. As for Ryou and Bakura, I suppose it was because Bakura wasn't a spirit anymore, but a creature of the night, that the ring doesn't react to him unless he's close to it. And I'm not telling you who the evil vamp is yet, neener neener =P.  
  
----  
  
Brutal Immortality  
  
----  
  
Chapter Seven  
  
----  
  
Seto awoke to the distinct smell of inu-jin blood, quite close to him. He blinked and turned, and was met by the sight of messy -green- hair covering a young face.  
  
Wait...  
  
...green?  
  
"ACK!" Seto jumped up, which startled the inu-jin next to him, who jumped up, with an equal or greater yell.  
  
Yep, Seto thought, I was right.  
  
It was Noa.  
  
The man, who looked about the age Mokuba was when he had Hanyou, now, glanced around, before glaring at the brunette, "Why'd you scare me like that, Seto!"  
  
"Well why were -you- sleeping next to me! Wait..." He glanced at himself. He was still fully clothed, "Okay, so you didn't rape me."  
  
"Rape you?! You have serious issues!" Noa snapped back.  
  
"Me?!"  
  
"ENOUGH!!" Hanyou barked, and Jou slunk back behind her.  
  
Seto and Noa both looked at her. Seto held out his hand for Jou. The blonde shook his head and nodded toward Hanyou, who still a little irritated.  
  
"Noa is here because he has to be. Daddy would want me to keep him here," Hanyou said.  
  
"What?" Seto asked.  
  
"You sure didn't keep up with our family very much. Papa invented something after he gave up part of his claim to KaibaCorp. Something that fix Noa's body even though he'd already died. Then, he searched the internet high and low to find Noa's brain and uploaded it to his body. That's why Noa looks like he'd aged, but not much. Papa told me all of this, then, after I was bitten, he said Noa was bitten a month or so after I was born," Hanyou explained.  
  
Seto eyed the turquoise haired man, "Yes, but why would he want you to know so much about him?"  
  
Hanyou shrugged, "I don't know, but Noa was always around before his inu- jin instincts began to kick in."  
  
Seto noticed Noa staring at the floor. He narrowed his blue eyes, considerably, "Really..."  
  
Noa glared at Seto. Seto rose an eyebrow, "I wonder why that is..."  
  
"Be quiet," Noa hissed.  
  
Seto smirked, and grabbed Jou's hand, pulling him out of the room. Hanyou blinked at Noa, who flushed in anger at the retreating vampire.  
  
----  
  
"What was that all about? You asked so many questions," Jou accused. Seto glared.  
  
"I asked one or two. And I had a reason." He replied.  
  
"What reason?" Jou snapped, pulling his hand away and placing both on his hips. Seto rolled his eyes, crossing his slim arms over his chest.  
  
"Are you always so difficult, inu?" Seto bit out.  
  
"No, but I like being well informed on the affairs of people close to me so they don't get hurt!" Jou replied, his honey eyes flaring.  
  
"Since when am I close to you, mutt? We hate each other, remember?" Seto replied. Jou huffed, his ears flicking, irritably, and his tail swaying out of nervousness.  
  
"Since...since...you...are an ass!" With that, Jou turned on a heel and walked away. Seto let out an annoyed breath that ruffled the hair in his eyes, before scowling, and glancing to the side. He noticed Ryou and Bakura looking on, and he hissed, very vampire like, at them, which made them jump and back off a little, before he turned, stormed past them, and into the game room, where he entered the library.  
  
Ryou pursed his lips, "Well...that went...well...?"  
  
Bakura rose a slim, white eyebrow, "Have you been drinking toilet water again, koi?"  
  
Ryou flushed at the embarrassing memory, before hitting Bakura softly in the arm. Bakura smirked, and dragged Ryou into the room he shared with the other boys, which was currently vacant. That made what they were about to do all the easier. He closed the door.  
  
----  
  
"Stupid ass...thinking he can...all I wanted to know was...stupid ass..." Jou muttered. He'd locked himself in the bathroom, and was probably holding up some line or something. He had his butt planted on the side of the sink, and his feet on the toilet. His brown eyes flicked back and forth, as he thought about the fight. It was the first time since Seto had re-surfaced that they'd actually acted like their old selves. It was a strange sensation. He didn't like fighting with the brunette, but he realized he'd missed the little squalls.  
  
And he supposed he was the one who'd started it. He could have just left it as it was. After all, it's not like Seto had to tell him everything. But Jou had to kick up a commotion, by yanking his arm away and arguing.  
  
"I should apologize..."  
  
He unlocked the door, and found Kenji standing there, glaring.  
  
He giggled, nervously, "I had beans for breakfast."  
  
Kenji made a face, and rushed into the bathroom, making Jou laugh outright. That face was priceless.  
  
----  
  
Seto sat in the library, quietly. He wasn't even reading. Just fuming quietly. He heard someone enter, but continued to fume.  
  
"Stupid mutt. Why do you effect me so? I never asked for this. I never asked to become so close. Never asked for you to be nice to me. Dammit, Katsuya, I never asked to fall in love with you..."  
  
Jou stopped. He hid behind a bookshelf, his eye's wide, his head swimming now.  
  
He loves me? Jou's heart lurched, and he rushed out, panting from running, and from the feelings that swirled in his head and heart. Hanyou found him, and blinked, "Jou-kun? Daijoubu?"  
  
"I'm fine," Jou murmured, smiling at her. Noa stood next to her. It was then that Jou noticed what Seto must have noticed from the start.  
  
They had the same color eyes.  
  
----  
  
Seto walked out of the library a few hours later, and ran smack into the blonde who'd been on his mind the most.  
  
"Hey, Jou, look I'm—"  
  
"Um, um, I n-need to go Ryou—!"Jou sputtered, and ran off. Seto blinked. Was he still mad? The brunette scowled, "Well fine then, stupid mutt..."  
  
----  
  
Jou walked to the room he shared with his friends, smiling, widely. Seto loved him! He really hated getting nervous and running away from the brunette like that, but he was still kind of confused, despite his joy.  
  
He went to open the door, when an uninvited sound entered his ears. He listened closer, pressing his dog ear to the door.  
  
"Mm, 'Kura...yes...yes...! Gods, harder...ah...!"  
  
Jou's eyes widened, and he squeaked, rushing away from the door, as a loud cry was heard from inside the room. Jou paled, and ran as fast as he could. And guess what?  
  
He slammed into Seto, for the second time.  
  
"Oh, Seto! I'm sorry!" Jou rushed, scratching the back of his head, "I was just trying to get away from the room, because Ryou and Bak—"  
  
"I don't care, make inu," Seto said, bitterly, and pushed past him.  
  
Jou's world crumbled.  
  
----  
  
Ryou walked into the game room to find Jou lying on his stomach, on the pool table, his tail swaying, miserably, his mouth and nose buried in his crossed arms.  
  
Ryou walked over and looked into Jou's eyes. They held a sense of depression and hurt.  
  
"Daijoubu, Jou?"  
  
"Iie," Jou spoke, softly, his voice barely audible. But then again, he didn't really feel like talking  
  
--"I don't care, make inu."--  
  
Jou squeezed his eyes closed, "I'm not pathetic..."  
  
Ryou blinked, "I never said you were..."  
  
Jou shook his head, a bitter smile replacing his depressing frown, "No...you didn't...but Seto did."  
  
Ryou stifled a gasp, "He what?"  
  
"He called me a 'make inu' and he hasn't called me that since we were seventeen..." Jou replied, obviously hurt by the words. Ryou motioned for him to sit up, before he jumped up on the table with him.  
  
"Ryou, I need to tell you something..." Jou murmured.  
  
Ryou nodded, prepared to listen to what his friend had to say. Jou crossed his legs, Indian style, on the table, before beginning.  
  
"I went to say sorry for the fight I started with Seto today, so I went into the library, because that's where he usually is and I heard him say..."  
  
Jou paused, and blinked back a few stray tears, "...say that he loved me...and then he calls me that name. Why?"  
  
"You heard him say it? What did you say back?" Ryou asked.  
  
"Well, nothing, I was to shocked, and I don't think he knew I was there, so I couldn't really say anything."  
  
Ryou nodded, "Then?"  
  
"Then he walked out a few hours later, and ran into me, and I think he was gonna apologize, and I sputtered and ran away, nervously. I still couldn't believe what he'd said," Jou continued.  
  
"Well, there is your problem. He thinks you don't care about his apology or his feelings," Ryou murmured.  
  
Jou flushed, "So I made a mistake?"  
  
"A big one."  
  
"And I should rectify it?"  
  
"Immediately."  
  
"So I shouldn't be sitting around, moping?"  
  
"Definitely not."  
  
Jou grinned, "Thanks Ryou. You're really good at this relationship thing. Oh, and by the way...you should ask Hanyou to sound proof the walls."  
  
Ryou blinked, furrowing his brow, before his eyes widened and he blushed, brightly. Jou left, laughing.  
  
----  
  
"What an interesting development," The female vampire said to her clan, "As it turns out, Hanyou is not the one with the blood we want. You know your orders, now go, children of the night, and do not fail me!"  
  
----  
  
Seto and Jou joined Hanyou in her room, with Noa, Yuugi, Ryou, Bakura and Yami. Yami was back in his original outfit. He enjoyed wearing the tight leather over the loose robes that he was always tripping over.  
  
"What's this meeting for Hanyou?"  
  
"I'm not sure. Noa asked me to call you all here," Hanyou said.  
  
"Well, I should only be telling you this Hanyou, but Seto and Jou both deserve to know, and I need witnesses here in case one of them kills me," Noa replied.  
  
Seto glared, and Jou shifted in his seat, uncomfortably. Noa sat next to Hanyou on her bed, and touched her face, softly, "You look so much like Mokuba..."  
  
Jou noticed Seto's hard expression soften to a faint hurt, but his glare did not waver.  
  
"Hanyou..." Noa sighed, "Shizuka is not your mother."  
  
Jou's closed his eyes, and Seto pursed his lips. They both knew. They knew what was coming next.  
  
"In fact, you don't have a mother..." Noa continued. Hanyou's brow furrowed.  
  
"Mokuba carried you. Mokuba gave birth to you," Noa replied to her look.  
  
"I don't...I don't..." Hanyou sputtered.  
  
"Not to sound arrogent, but Mokuba married Shizuka as kind of a rebound," Noa murmured.  
  
Jou glared, jumping up "Say that again!"  
  
Seto grabbed him.  
  
Noa sighed, "After Mokuba built me a body, he married Shizuka to try and cover up. He told me one night, that after he built my body, he started to question his feelings for her, because I was back. That was night Hanyou was conceived, and he told me he loved me. But he knew he couldn't stay with me. So he told Shizuka about me, and eventually Hanyou, after he found out about her, and they patched everything up, and he stayed with her...because...because Shizuka was expecting too...  
  
"But she was expecting at least a month behind Mokuba. I don't know how Mokuba got pregnant, but he did, and Hanyou was born three weeks before her sister was. So Mokuba raised them both. And then, when Hanyou was fairly young, I...I bit her. I had been turned inu-jin a few weeks after her birth, and I needed some kind of constant in my life. I knew Mokuba would stay with Shizuka, until death do they part, as cliché as that sounds, and I knew I'd keep living, but I couldn't watch everyone I loved get taken from me, so I bit Hanyou, so I could always have her.  
  
"It was foolish, I know, but...I was still young, and I loved Mokuba and Hanyou, even if she didn't know I was her dad...being her favorite 'uncle' was good too, and as long as I came to visit Hanyou, I'd be able to see Mokuba too, and I needed to see him. If only from a distance, I -had- to see him."  
  
He was crying, now, as was Hanyou. Yuugi clung to Yami, and Ryou sniffed, Bakura squeezing his hand.  
  
Jou looked close to tears, and Seto listened, his eyes close, his fingers clenching, as he held them intertwined.  
  
"So, now you know..." Noa murmured, looking at Hanyou.  
  
Hanyou nodded, "I always wondered why I never had any of Mama...I mean, Shizuka's features..."  
  
"No! No, don't stop calling her mom because of me. She's the only other parent you've ever really known..."  
  
"Yes, but...you're my dad..." Hanyou looked at him.  
  
Noa smiled bitterly, "No, I'm your father. I wasn't part of your life enough to be your dad."  
  
What happened next surprised Noa. Hanyou wrapped her arms around him, and rested her head on his shoulder, "I don't care...I love you, and I've always felt so close to you, no matter if I didn't know you were my dad. And you are my dad, and now I know this. I understand why Daddy would want to keep this secret, because of the way Mama would have reacted, but..."  
  
She was sobbing now, gripping Noa, as she continued hoarsely, "I love you, Papa!"  
  
Noa hugged her back, and Jou stifled a sob. Seto glanced at him. He shook his head and stood, walking out.  
  
Jou watched him go, and had the urge to follow, but did not. He wanted to let Seto cool off first, for he knew the brunette was not happy.  
  
He smiled as he watched the two hug, but frowned inwardly, realizing Noa never got to say goodbye to Mokuba, and realizing just how much the turquoise haired man must have loved him.  
  
He glanced out the door, and stood, to find Seto.  
  
----  
  
Jou searched around for a little while, before he found something. A note.  
  
–Don't search for him.—  
  
--He'll be dead before you can find him--  
  
--Sorry for your loss--  
  
--Wait...no I'm not--  
  
--The Mistress--  
  
Jou's eyes widened.  
  
He ran out and into the main hall of the den, "He's gone! Seto's gone! He's been taken!"  
  
Everyone rushed out, and Hanyou read the note.  
  
"The Mistress...that must be the female vampire..." Hanyou furrowed her brow, "Why would she want uncle?"  
  
"I don't know, but we have to find him," Jou said, frantically, his eyes scared for Seto.  
  
Hanyou nodded, "We will Jou. Don't worry..."  
  
Jou bit his lip.  
  
"...we will."  
  
--------  
  
Chapter 7 is done, and finally something is starting to happen. I was close to tears when I wrote the Noa's Explanation. It was so heartfelt, and I felt so bad for Noa that he'd never get to be with Mokuba the way they'd both wanted too, and I just love NxM so much. I suppose those loose ends I told you about were tied up. At first, I was going to make Jou the victim, but I thought that'd be very gary lew-ish, so I made Seto the victim. Anyway, I shall update soon...hopefully! Review ! Luvvies, Sheila! This chap is dedicated to you! 


End file.
